Right after Installing NI VIsion Acquistion MAX 4.2, my PC will not boot to WIndows XP

[DelphiDan]

My OS is WinXP Pro SP3

I've installed NI Development Module 8.2.1 and rebooted without any problems.  I have narrowed my problem down to after installing NI MAX 4.2, my computer reboots to an infinite loop of trying to reboot.   I have to use F8 on bootup and select "last know good configuration".  Once I do this, my computer boots up ok, but NI MAX cannot be opened.   I tried installing NI Development Module 8.5 with NI MAX 4.5 with same results.   I also turned off Windows Security Center Firewall and tried again, but get same results.  I've uninstalled and re-installed several times with same results.   I've installed NI MAX on many computers without any problems until now.  Only difference with this computer than previous computers that I can tell is a newer motherboard/backplane and bios.

[Wee-Bey]

Hi delphi Dan,

First, I see that in the title you mention installing NI Vision Acquisition, and then in the post you talk about installing Vision Development Module and MAX. I just wanted to clarify exactly what you were trying to install.

Measurement & Automation Explorer (MAX) is software that comes with many National Instruments products and allows you to interface with much of our hardware through its drivers. It is installed with almost any piece of NI software (LabVIEW, VAS, VDM, etc) and very rarely does it need to be installed separately. In this case, you should not have to install it separately.

Vision Acquisition Software is a set of drivers NI provides for its cameras. This has MAX in it.

Vision Development Module is NI software that provides extended image processing tools for images. This also has MAX in it.

Which of these are you trying to install? Are you also trying to install a version of LabVIEW, or are you not using that?

Are you trying to install MAX separately? When you installed Vision Development Module, MAX should be installed as part of that. One reason you might be getting this problem is that you install another version of MAX over the version that's already there. Try installing Vision Development Module and not installing MAX.

[DelphiDan]

Hello Ravi,

Thank you for the response

I understand that Vision Development Module comes with VIsion Acq Software (2 CD pack).  I have done this many times on other computers over the last 5 years.  After first CD of Vision Development Module is complete, it prompts for 2nd CD, which is NI VIsion Acq.  After full installation and auto reboot, my computer goes into a infinite loop of trying to reboot, never getting to windows screen.   I have uninstalled and reinstalled a number of times, before I decided to try to narrow down problem.   I wanted to find out what part of installation was causing this problem, so I only installed NI Vision Development module and computer rebooted with no problem.   This meant that something in the Vision Acq Sofware was causing this problem. 

The next step I did was do complete installation again, but when I got to VIsion Acq software (2nd CD) I only selected certain parts to install.  For example, only NI-IMAQ, but not MAX.  OR  only MAX and not NI-IMAQ.   I figured out that whenever I included the MAX in the installation on reboot the problem occurred again.   This makes me think that something in the Measuremant & Automotation Explorer is causing this.  I always make sure I completely uninstall, before trying again.

I am not using Labview.   I use VB6 with NI software.

Also, I did notice that many previous computers I installed this sofware on, which I had no problems installing had WInXP Sp2.  This computer uses Sp3.   Any reported problems with WinXP Sp3 and MAX.

Regards Dan

[Wee-Bey]

There do not seem to be any known issues with MAX and XP Service Pack 3. I am trying to simulate your problem with another machine we have here, but while I do that, I was wondering a few things. Have you tried installing another version of MAX with success? Or perhaps the same version of MAX through another medium (such as DAQmx)?

http://digital.ni.com/public.nsf/allkb/EE0FB9EB80AE148686257336006CED22

This chart shows you what versions of DAQmx have what versions of MAX. Perhaps you can narrow down the problem with this, and I will see if it is recreatable.

[DelphiDan]

I found a copy of NI DAQ 7 with MAX 3.1.    I installed this and computer rebooted without any problems.  I was able to go into MAX 3.1 without any problems.   I will try to load my MAX 4.2  or 4.5 overtop of this and report back.

[DelphiDan]

I took the vision acq software CD and installed only Max 4.2 and did automatic reboot.   The computer rebooted ok and I was able to open Max 4.2.  I could click on devices and expand.  I then took the NI VIsion Acq software and allowed everything to install.  I elected not to activate license right now, so to use evaluation mode at the moment.   When I rebooted the computer the problem occurred again.  The Windows logo would briefly appear then go away and reboot would try again.  I finally had to go to "Last known Configuration" to get windows to boot up.  Once Windows was running I was able to go into MAX 4.2, but once I clicked on Devices, Max would automatically close.

[Wee-Bey]

Are you running Windows XP 64-bit, by any chance? Is it possible to revert to SP2?

[DelphiDan]

XP 32 bit version.  Unfortunately, the computer was already built up from vendor with initital installation of SP3.   No XP installation disk included.    I did download the latest NI VIsion development Module 2011 for evaluation mode.  My computer re-booted fine.